Preparing For Life After The Klan

March 11, 1998

None of the members of the Interfaith Leadership Project is looking forward to seeing the Ku Klux Klan roll into Cicero this weekend. The KKK's vile history of bigotry and violence is in opposition to everything this coalition of Cicero and Berwyn churches and businesses stands for.

But if the Klan had to choose a week to make its fateful appearance, it couldn't have chosen a better one as far as Interfaith Leadership Project organizers are concerned.

Long before the Klan made plans to invade Cicero, the ILP decided this would be the week it would begin training its church members to hold "house meetings" in their homes. The gatherings are designed to encourage neighbors of various cultural backgrounds, who might not otherwise interact, to get to know each other in intimate settings.

It has been three years since the Interfaith Leadership Project, created in 1991 to inspire cross-cultural relations, recruited sponsors for the sessions. But organizers were to begin training a new crop of hosts Tuesday night at St. Anthony's Church in Cicero.

Now is the ideal time to revive these forums. The uproar created by the Klan could well inspire greater participation in the program--and give rise to others like it.

Cicero has had its share of racial unrest over the years, mostly involving white ethnic working-class residents and blacks who live in Chicago neighborhoods that border the town. Now, with a population that is mostly Hispanic, tensions still simmer.

There is the potential for an eruption Saturday when the KKK is expected to spew its hate-laced rhetoric for two hours. Parents and community leaders particularly are concerned the demonstration could provoke youth to lash out violently at the hooded racists.

In a foolhardy attempt to head off such a disturbance, the Cicero Town Board voted to deny the KKK a rally permit. Predictably--and properly--a Cook County Circuit Court judge saw this as an infringement of the right to free speech and ordered officials to authorize the event.

Rather than try to snuff out the Klan's sinister plans, let community leaders use this occasion to encourage residents to engage in efforts that may lead to racial and social reconciliation.

A number of civic organizations are holding demonstrations and prayer vigils to counter the presence of the Klan. But when all the fuss has ended, there still will be a need for people to get along. Opportunities for dialogue will be all the more critical then.

How wonderfully ironic it would be if Cicero, legendary for its racism, turned the KKK's incendiary intentions into a lesson in tolerance and interpersonal understanding that the entire region can learn from.